This study examined how adult attachment affects conflict management strategy and empathy takes a role as a mediator variable between them in close relationship. For this research, 326 partipants from a university in Daegu were asked to fill out a que...
This study examined how adult attachment affects conflict management strategy and empathy takes a role as a mediator variable between them in close relationship. For this research, 326 partipants from a university in Daegu were asked to fill out a questionnaire which consisted of the Experience of Close Relationship-Revised(ECR-R), Interpersonal Reactivity Index(IRI), and the Managing Affect and Difference Scale(MADS). The collected data were analyzed by SPSS 15.0 and AMOS 7.0 package.
The results were as followings. First, high attachment avoidance was related with low positive conflict management strategy and high attachment anxiety with high negative conflict management strategy. High cognitive empathy was also related with high positive conflict management strategy but high emotional empathy was related with high negative conflict management strategy. Second, attachment avoidance has both direct effect and indirect effect, and attachment anxiety has indirect effect on the positive conflict management strategy. This indirect path is mediated by cognitive empathy. Third, attachment anxiety has both direct effect and indirect effect, and attachment avoidance mediated by emotional empathy has indirect effect on the negative conflict management strategy. In this case, cognitive emapthy preceded emotional empathy. The assumed models were evaluated by several fit indices such as χ², GFI, TLI, RMSEA. Every fit index was good.
The discussions focused on mediating effects of cognitive and emotional empathy in the relationship between adult attachment and conflict management strategy. It could serve as the basis of further research to assist university students in successfully achieving positive conflict management strategy. Limitations in the results were also discussed.